'Mean Girls 2': When is a sequel not a sequel?

So Mean Girls 2 premiered on ABC Family last night, and as Gretchen Wieners might say, it was so not fetch. The flick tells the story of a pretty outsider who transfers to North Shore High, befriends an unpopular artist, and conspires to bring down the Plastics, a group of three snotty, cruel classmates: a devious queen bee, a dumb, promiscuous blonde, and a high-strung brunette. Soon enough, the protagonist gets a makeover and becomes a member of the ruling class herself. It’s only after a major crisis turns the entire school against her that our girl can get back on track and finally rid the school of Plastics once and for all.

Sound familiar?

Yes, Mean Girls 2 isn’t a sequel so much as it is a thinly veiled, low-budget remake of the 2004 hit with which it shares a name. This isn’t unusual for straight-to-DVD sequels to popular movies, especially those aimed at teenagers: Every iteration of the Bring It On franchise follows the same blueprint – dueling cheer squads from different socio-economic backgrounds fight for a title – while National Lampoon’s Van Wilder inspired a similar series of movies about college bros behaving badly. And don’t even get me started on American Pie, which has spawned four nearly identical follow-ups on home video (as well as two theatrical sequels that did continue the original film’s story).

Which prompts an important question: Is Paramount preparing to launch a new DVD franchise based around Mean Girls? And if so, what can we do to stop them?

Taken on its own merits, Mean Girls 2 isn’t a total travesty – Amanda Bynes look-a-like Meaghan Martin had some appeal as the movie’s Lindsay Lohan surrogate. But as a supposed sequel to one of the best comedies of the ’00s, it’s pretty heinous. By all means, make rip-offs about bitchy teenage girls one-upping each other at a school presided over by Principal Tim Meadows – just don’t sully Mean Girls’ reputation by associating those rip-offs with Tina Fey’s masterpiece.

Tell, me, PopWatchers: Did any of you waste two hours of your lives watching Mean Girls 2 last night? And if so, am I being too hard on it?